VR, AI distrupting how a child learns

Having been through the assembly line approach in education, ourselves, and having experienced unprecedented uncertainties recently, I feel we are all aware that school education needs to undergo a paradigm shift. One major change needed is the incorporation of 21st-century skills and mind-sets. These skills not only include robotics and programming, but also include design thinking, problem-solving, understanding automation, and several others.

While many believe AI and ML should be taught in school as a subject, I personally feel they should be used as a tool to customise each child's learning journey, helping each child to play up his/her strengths, and bridge gaps. Likewise, the use of modern technology like AR and VR should also be mandated to make learning more experiential.

Here is a use case

A child in Kindergarten faces issues in recognising and building patterns. This is tracked using various Montessori games introduced by the teacher in class. The AI attached to the class camera monitors each child's progress with each activity and sends prompts to the teacher to recommend the next level activities to children who are proficient, while recommending gap activities to those struggling with pattern recognition, to ascertain how deep their learning gap is. Strengthening activities and resources are deployed upon children who need to bridge that gap so that they don't struggle with fractions and long division in grade 4.

AI could pave the academic requirement towards customising education for every child, while AR and VR could actually make activities conducted in school, far more interesting and engaging.

VR & AI in education

Imagine, reading about Antarctica, and then watching penguins plunge into the Ocean, navigating icebergs, giving you a complete idea of what the ecology in and around Antarctica is like. One experience that many of us wouldn't ever get to experience in our lifetimes.

They say, when a child reads, he comprehends, when he sees, he remembers, when he interacts he comprehends, enjoys, and remembers. VR brings that experience at your doorstep that cannot be achieved in reality. It offers not just Visual Impact, if paired with AI, it offers customised outcomes that can blow every child's mind.

This is not just about learning, but about learning with context and experience associated with it. If these techniques are adopted wisely, schools wouldn't be just temples of learning and infact would act like simulators - offering a reality like environment.

This would allow children to view facts from a different perspective and would provide stimuli to further their imagination and propel innovation.

Expanded teaching possibilities

Incorporating VR & AI into education not only benefits the students but also helps teachers provide and plan better resources for their class. Although when it comes to the educational industry, virtual incorporation is only at its initial stages and still it has already shown signs of massive improvement in kids who are a part of this futuristic educational curriculum.

Furthermore, this concept eliminates the geographical barriers of education and enables students to access global learning opportunities. In many ways, the introduction of Virtual Reality and Artificial intelligence is disrupting the way kids are learning and preparing them for a world of innovation.

Increased interactivity, engagement and innovation

Students today lack the attention span required to sit through books and traditional teaching. This further decreases their engagement and interaction in class. VR adds a touch of interactive reality to the otherwise monotonous learning experience that helps amp up curiosity within the child.

For example, learning about geography, land planes and soils may get boring when it is done with just words in the textbooks. But, what if the student gets to experience this with VR handsets that help them be in a particular geography (virtually of course). This will help the child understand the concepts much better and also help retain this knowledge for a long time. Institutions thus need to adopt innovative techniques in education.

Additionally, this experience also aligns with the New Education Policy and motivates kids to find independent solutions to what they witness thus empowering a sense of leadership and innovation that prepares them for the 21st Century skills.

Inclusivity

One of the most exciting aspects of VR and AI is inclusivity for all. Every child is capable to change the world and no disability should stop them from getting the opportunity to do so. With the help of technology, schools and teachers are able to create an inclusive environment where students with disabilities are also able to be a part of regular classes and grow in a more supportive environment.

For example, there are gloves that are designed to enable communication via sign language in a VR environment and translate into human speech. Also, there is various text-to-speech software that is being designed, to scan and read product labels, books, signage, and more.

Today, even children are using knowledge gained via robotics, to design sensor-based walking sticks and other innovative gadgets for the differently abled. Such inclusivity and focus on empathy is enabling even children to innovate and bring everyone to the same learning level.

Enhanced learning for all

Both Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence thus offer numerous exciting opportunities for an experiential education system that focuses on program solving and developing 21st-century skills. Incorporating such immersive technologies would be instrumental in overcoming key challenges that the education sector faces, and would immensely help in developing experiential learning with value-driven lessons.

It is through these innovations, that kids will be future-ready and be able to go bullish in a world powered by innovation and evolution.

(The author is the CEO& Co-Founder, STEM Metaverse)